VirtualNSF Overview

The VirtualNSF architecture grew out of Data Modeler research and technology. It applies mainframe virtualization strategies to Domino application content. VirtualNSF combines the security and richness of Domino rich content stores with the performance and high scalability of IBM DB2.

Historically, IBM Domino set the standard for rapid development of secure collaborative applications. The Domino NSF was the ideal data store for these kinds of semi-structured data based tracking and workflow applications. In recent years, the label NoSQL has been applied generically to semi-structured database platforms.

As flexible as the Domino NSF structure is, it has inherent architectural limitations which cause application performance to degrade as the NSF exceeds 100-200k documents. Where Domino applications were ideally suited to departmental solutions, they simply could not scale to the enterprise or beyond.

VirtualNSF allows existing Domino applications to be scaled to the Enterprise or to the Cloud. This can result in enormous cost savings for companies that have already invested in Domino applications. Rather than completely replacing otherwise serviceable applications, they can be given new life by using VirtualNSF.

IBM Domino set the standard for secure, easy-to-develop departmental applications, but the underlying architecture would not go beyond this scale. Sun & Son’s VirtaulNSF blows away these limitations and takes secure, scalable Domino applications to the Enterprise and the Cloud.

— ! need source

VirtualNSF allows IBM Domino to become a key player in the NoSQL marketplace - a market that it originally defined with Lotus Notes.

— ! need source

Features

VirtualNSF consists of a set of code components which can be added to existing Domino applications. Some application modification is required to call the VirtualNSF services from the application code.

Ultimately, the goal is to provide seamless and transparent migration to VirtualNSF without coding.

Technology

The VirtualNSF Manager is a set of code components which can be added to existing Domino applications. The Manager monitors NSF usage and, as required, spawns additional NSF repositories for application documents.

Domino views are the primary limiting factor for Domino application scalability. VirtualNSF moves view indexes out of the NSF and into IBM DB2, where they are efficiently managed as indexed tabular data.

VirtualNSF ties together content repositories and views, so that the user experiences a much larger and higher performance application. An added benefit is that view data can now be queried using SQL queries.

Availability

Sun & Son currently offers VirtualNSF technology as part of Domino application modernization services engagements.

If you are interested in integrating VirtualNSF into your Domino application environment, please send us an email from the Contact Us page. We will be happy to set up an initial consultation where we can discuss costs and time frames.